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What is your "reference" song?


jhoak

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I'm not quite sure where to put this. If the mods feel like this thread belongs in another area please feel free to move it.

The question is: What is the very first thing you play after making a change? Your "reference" song. The piece of music that you know so well that it immediately shows the effect of whatever you changed good or bad.

Myself... It's Tocatta from the DVD-A of ELP's Brain Salad Surgery. That album is one of a dozen or so that I own on CD, DVD-A (or SACD) and vinyl so I get to hear a couple of different mixes. No matter what the source is I've yet to find another piece of music that will give a set of speakers the workout that Tocatta will.

Enlighten me... Please!

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I can't pick just one, I have a few. A single recording will not tell you everything. I use Krall, Jennifer Warrens, Mindy Smith, Manhiem Steamroller and my long time favorite ELP's Lucky Man, I've got to hear that deep subsonic Moog!

Thanx, Russ

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Janis Ian's "Breaking Silence" on Analogue Productions gold CD or LP. I don't see the CD available on their website currently, but you might be able to find one somewhere.

http://store.acousticsounds.com/browse_detail.cfm?Title_ID=6045

http://www.stereophile.com/recordingofthemonth/763/

Just found it, unfortunately it's this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Silence-Janis-Ian/dp/B000054P0H/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1241539714&sr=1-9

They were selling for less than the LP when I got mine, which I thought was a lot for a CD at the time. It turned out to be well worth it and an example of how good CDs can sound. Looks like I should have bought a case of them.

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Mark Knopfler's "Sailing to Philadelphia" is another I often use. The recording is decent, but he has good depth in his voice and the appearances from Van Morrison and James Taylor are a bonus. I like tracks 10 and 11, "Speedway at Nazareth" and "Junkie Doll" in particular. If you want an electronica workout for the speakers, try Madonna's "Music", "American Life", "Confessions on a Dance Floor"...or probabaly anything from "Ray of Light" on.

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In my lucky-me day job I get to play with lots of really big systems & tune mostly by ear. My 1st song is (& has been for well over a decade) Vince Gill's "Don't Let Our Love Start Slipping Away." Probably not the best recording but incredibly revealing of a system & room's short falls.

Here are my main points of contact:

1) VG's vocal, is it clearly defined? He should sit nicely in the mix and not get touchy around 1KHz and 250Hz.

2) Guitar solo, has a bite at around 3KHz on peaky systems.

3) Snare, can you hear the gated reverb or does it all blur into the hit?

Guess which speakers I think the track sounds best on? Yep, my K-Horns!

Next I use his "I Still Believe In You" to tune the subwoofers, huge low end. Another interesting cut is Steely Dan's "Babylon Sisters", on a good system you can hear the background vocals as distinct voices otherwise they all blend into a nice but indestinct smear.

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Babylon Sisters is an excellent example of a great recording. I also like "Morph the Cat" and "Everything Must Go" by Steely Dan which are exceptionally clean recordings with incredible dynamic "pop" & bass extension. Most of Donald Fagen's solo recordings would work as reference material. I also like "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo" & "Sinister Minister" by Bela Fleck to check out bass response, and "Time Squared" on SACD by the Yellowjackets.

You CANNOT leave out "Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture etc. / Kunzel, Cincinnati Pops (Multichannel Hybrid SACD) by Tchaikovsky, Cincinnati Pops, Kiev Symphony Chorus, and Erich Kunzel" from your list of reference material. This works for both Redbook, SACD 2-channel, and SACD Multi-Channel systems.

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Babylon Sisters is an excellent example of a great recording. I also like "Morph the Cat" and "Everything Must Go" by Steely Dan which are exceptionally clean recordings with incredible dynamic "pop" & bass extension.

Agreed, but here's the rub - they make almost any POS system sound pretty good which is a huge compliment to the recordings but only useful if you want to impress rather than analyze.

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Telarc's "The Great Fantasy Adventure Album - Erich Kunzel & the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra"

T-Rex stomp gives subwoofers a mighty workout.

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves - Main Titles has a very crisp triangle that's great for testing high frequency detail.

There's a lot of songs I use but I seem to pop in that disc with most gear changes. The Robin Hood theme song was taken to another level with I installed the titanium diaphragms in my Fortes.

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My current stack of reference discs includes: the wonderfully sultry and showy vocal jazz of Diana Krall (Stepping Out, 24-bit/96 kHz, Justintime 2000, see my gushing review); the excellent darkness and tone of a variety of excellently recorded instruments on the DMP does DSP SACD (Digital Music Products '99). For dynamics, I love the Japanese ceremonial drums on the DMP Does DSP and Tracy Chapman’s “Revolution.”

For bass, I usually have to hear the riff on Paul Simon’s “You can call me Al.”

The "Acoustic drum solo" (Russ Henry, Stereophile test CD 2, Stereophile, STPH 004-2) is an excellent minimalist recording done at the former Manley Labs with their reference microphone. With speaker proper placement and toe-in, I can experience a life-sized holographic image of a drum kit about 6 to 8 feet in front of me.

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There are several favorites that I play on my sysem and others' systems if I am evaluating something. E Power Biggs and/or Michael Murray for pipe organ, Steely Dan's Aja, Johnny Adams There is Always One More Time, Elton John Funeral For A Friend, AC/CD Ballbreaker and Stiff Upper Lip, Grateful Dead Skeletons From The Closet.

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If you ever wanted to tes out the effectiveness and strength of your mids and high horns... try playing The Bulgarian State Woman's Choir

d80433up3b9.jpg

Le Mystere will ansolutely give those things a work out and you will know immediately if they are weak

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I go through several CD's, versus individual songs, when listening to something new or after a change...

"Brothers In Arms" - Dire Straits

"Vegas" - The Crystal Method

"Ah Via Musicom" - Eric Johnson

"Flesh on Flesh" (Telarc SACD) - Al Di Meola

"Quad Maximus" - Bass Mekanik

"The Immaculate Collection" - Madonna

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